Bones by the Wood (52 page)

The world was a good place.

Dizzy put his palm at the small of Thea’s back as they walked into the
Louisiana clubhouse.  He knew that she had misgivings about this visit, but he’d wanted to travel up to spend a couple of days with Samuel and his other brothers during the festive period and she’d agreed for his sake.

Thea’s disquiet stemmed from her uncertainty about Moira’s reaction to her now.  Moira hadn’t said anything derogatory to her when she’d left with Josh after the kidnapping, but Thea thought that she was at the very least disappointed in her, more likely that she thought that Thea had pussied out.  Having spoken to Samuel, Dizzy had tried to reassure Thea that Moira thought no such thing, but Thea would not be persuaded until she’d spoken to the woman herself.

She’d even dressed up for the visit, wearing a slinky, shimmery top and a wide studded belt with her tight black jeans. Dizzy liked the top; it slouched off one shoulder.  Considering that there wasn’t an inch of her body that he hadn’t been intimate with, it might have been weird that the sight of just her shoulder could reduce him to speechless mush, but it did.

All of this added up to a whole lot of interesting, because they would be staying at Samuel and Moira’s house.

As far as Dizzy was concerned, although it would be odd to be sleeping in the rooms that had once belonged to Ashleigh and Dean, and they’d have to fuck quietly - which was easier said than done with Thea - it would be worth it for the security.  He didn’t think Thea could ever be persuaded to stay at the motel again, and he wouldn’t have wanted to put her and Josh through that ordeal anyway.

“Cher!  Welcome!”

So much for Thea being on Moira’s shit list, then.  Dizzy had been right.  They were barely though the door before Moira was pulling Thea into a fierce hug.  He felt Thea stiffen momentarily with astonishment before she relaxed.  When Moira finally released her so that she could descend on Josh, Thea was smiling.

Josh accepted the assault with good grace and then promptly ran off to find Jenny.

“Hello, Dizzy.”  Moira pecked him on the cheek, then bore a slightly shell-shocked Thea off to a table that Dolly was seated at.

Samuel was not far behind his wife.  “Brother, its good to see you.”  He pulled Dizzy in for a one-armed hug and a slap on the back.  “Easy journey?”

“Yeah, Traffic was light.  How’re y’all doin’?”

“Good, good.  You know how it gets here.”

Dizzy did.  Under Moira’s guiding hand, the Louisiana Christmases were just as crazy, but maybe a little more regimented, than the one Thea had arranged for the Texas charter.

Dizzy looked around the room, taking stock of who was there.  “Where’s Chiz?”

Samuel expression was a mixture of concern and frustration.

“He’s gone for a... ride.  He’ll be gone a few days.  His head’s been busy, you know?”

Dizzy nodded his understanding.  Chiz having a busy head meant clean-up duty, often of the kind that would foil a CSI investigation.  And when Dizzy had been SAA, it had usually also meant that he had to mete out some discipline for carelessness that could have put the club at risk.

“We had some trouble with him a few days ago.”  Samuel continued.  “I think he’s just feelin’ a little sorry for himself.”

“He okay out on his own?”  Dizzy hoped that Chiz didn’t do anything stupid, but he had a feeling that history would end up repeating itself and that Chiz could well be needing bail before the new year.

“So he says.”  Samuel shrugged.  “He checks in every day.”

Dizzy nodded.  Short of going out to drag the crazy bastard home, there wasn’t much more they could do than watch and wait.

Samuel led him over to the bar, where cold beers were already waiting for them.  His other brothers crowded around, and he spent a good hour just catching up on the club gossip.

Dizzy kept an eye on Thea, glancing over every now and then.  She’d woken up feeling low and tired, even though she’d had hours of solid sleep. They’d both put it down to her, apparently unfounded, uneasiness about the visit.  Dizzy had offered her an out, but she’d shot him down and mainlined coffee before getting behind the wheel of her truck.

Eventually food became the main topic of conversation as dishes started to flow out of the kitchen.  Dizzy looked around for Thea, since he knew Moira would be directing the culinary operations.  He spotted her examining one of the large framed photo montages that had been put together with photos taken at various club events over the years.

“Excuse me, brothers.  I’m just gonna catch up with my old lady.”

“The second dorm room’s free!”  Crash called as Dizzy walked across the room.  Dizzy flipped him off without looking back, but made a mental note all the same.

He was betting that Thea would use the montage as inspiration to do something similar for the Texas charter.  As he got closer he noticed that she still looked paler than usual.

“You okay, sweetheart?”

“Yeah, yeah I am.”  She turned away from the frame to face him.  “Moira and Dolly have been lovely.  I really didn’t expect it.”

Dizzy planted a light kiss on the corner of her mouth.

“Is that you sayin’ I told you so?”  She asked with a smirk.

“Might be.”

Thea was smiling at him, and then all of a sudden, her expression changed.  She paled even more, looking for all the world like she’d seen a ghost.  Dizzy whipped around to follow her line of sight, wondering what the hell had affected her so much, but all he could see was a very pregnant Ashleigh greeting Shark.  He couldn’t think of anything about that little slice of domesticity would get Thea so upset

“Oh, shit.”  It was hardly even a whisper; he’d almost missed that she’d said it.

“Thea?”

“Fuck.  Fuck.  I forgot!”  Her voice was still low and frantic.

“Forgot what, sweetheart?”

“After that night, well, that mornin’, when I was s’posed to get Plan B.  I went to the drugstore, but the pharmacist was a douche about it, he wouldn’t give it to me.  He kept spoutin’ about God’s plan and the sanctity of life.  I meant to go somewhere else and... oh fuck... I forgot.”

Dizzy grinned, his grin became a beam.  He was smiling so hard his cheeks ached and Thea started looking at him like he was having a seizure.

“Dizzy?  You get what this could mean, right?  Especially since I feel like shit at the moment.”

He pulled her to him and wrapped her up in his arms, burying his face in her hair and breathing in the scent of her, tinged with her shampoo and perfume.

“Yeah.  I get it sweetheart.  Seems to me we should get to a drugstore, huh?”

“Yeah.  Soon would be good.”  She disentangled herself a little.  “You’re not freakin’ out about this?”

“No, I’m not.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

~o0o~

Dizzy felt about as nervous as a teenage virgin visiting his first whorehouse.  It was ridiculous.  There was no need for that at all, but he knew why it was.  He was sitting on the edge of what had been Tink’s bed in what was now a guestroom at Samuel and Moira’s house, waiting for his old lady to come out of the adjoining bathroom and tell him whether or not she was going to make him a daddy.

It felt like an age had passed before Thea came out.  She was dressed in the little cotton set that she liked to sleep in, that Dizzy preferred to strip from her.  They’d pleaded fatigue from the journey to gain an early night.  Samuel had given Dizzy his key for the house.  Thea and Dizzy had promptly slipped away from the clubhouse, stopping at a drugstore on their way back.  They’d had Josh with them.  Thea had told him she was stopping for pills for a headache.

Thea’s smile spoke volumes.  It told him all he needed to know before she even handed him the little white, plastic stick and pointed to the second line.  He pulled her to him and rolled her under him on the bed, intending to kiss her until she couldn’t breathe. 

He had his brothers, a solid club at his back, the woman he loved by his side, the boy he considered to be his son sleeping in the next room, and his old lady was going to make him a daddy again.

He was on top of the world.

The End.